Quick Review – Where Monsters Dwell #2 (Secret Wars Tie-In)

In Where Monsters Dwell #2 Garth Ennis and Russ Braun continue the story of Karl Kaufmann and his passenger Clemmie, after they’ve crashed in the Valley of Flame to discover that it’s populated by dinosaurs and other creatures that should be long extinct.

The pacing and comedy of this issue are very similar to the first. It’s almost reminiscent of watching Gilligan’s Island… except here there are gigantic monsters that want to kill our main characters around every turn. Ennis’ dialogue paired with Braun’s artwork make for terrific comedic timing, and a thoroughly fun story to read. Also, with Marvel seemingly pushing as much diversity as possible lately, it is nice to see a genuinely strong female lead character.

Braun’s art is still slightly cartoonish, but it doesn’t really bother me with this story. For some reason it just seems to fit perfectly with the events and setting that we’re given. That being said, there are also some pretty violent scenes in this comic as well, after all, giant monsters have to eat something…

At the end of the day, I won’t go so far as to say this is the best series to come out of Secret Wars, but an argument could certainly be made for this one being the most fun to read. That fun factor paired with solid writing and artwork could turn this into the sleeper hit of the entire event.